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"Return to Zion", 16x20, oil on linen
I think this needs a little more work, but it is 95% finished.
Last week I used a limited palette to paint this very same scene of The Watchman and Virgin River at Zion Nat'l Park in Utah. I only used 4 colors in my last study (plus white) and I'll confess that it was pretty challenging for me to work without my usual array of pigments.
So today I decided to try the same piece again, only larger, and with my usual pigments that number about 12-15, plus white. What I wanted to find out was whether or not having more pigments to work with, enhanced or detracted from the overall painting, using the last painting of Zion as my comparison.
Although the larger canvas gave me more freedom to work, I actually must concede that I like the small painting with the limited palette better! I still need to add the tree branches on the left when the paints are dryer, but other than that, the scene is the same in both studies. If you haven't read that
blog post, here is the picture of the smaller painting:
The problem for me with using a limited palette is that I do a lot of palette knife work and that requires tons of paint!
So , before I started the smaller painting of Zion, I used those 4 colors (cad Yellow pale, Ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and windsor green) to create all the other colors that I figured I'd need- Purples, warm greens, orange, grays, etc, etc. That meant using a heck of a lot of mixing space to find and create these colors!
I am sure it gets easier to mix these secondary colors with practice, but the problem for me is that when I go outdoors and paint en plein air, there is a limit to how much mixing room I have! So is it better to lay out all my dozen or so paints beforehand, as I usually do, and have them Johnny on the spot, ready to go? Or is it better to just bring these 4 little tubes and hope I can create a decent painting with limited mixing room?
Not sure if any of this makes sense, but if there are any artists out there that have gone through the same experiments with mixing on a limited palette and have a solution to the "Mixing Room" problem, I would love to hear from you!
Thanks!
Although the larger canvas gave me more freedom to work, I actually must concede that I like the small painting with the limited palette better! I still need to add the tree branches on the left when the paints are dryer, but other than that, the scene is the same in both studies. If you haven't read that blog post, here is the picture of the smaller painting:
Karen also introduced me to Wet-Case, and the Wet Canvas Carrying system and it definitely came in handy today with all the wet paint I was slinging around! Here is how beautifully neat and clean you can keep your car, even if you are an avid plein air painter that exudes paint the way most people exude air!
The thing that is really cool about the Wet Case carrying system is that it has two separate layers, so if you are painting all day, or at a paint-out, you have ample storage room for your wet canvases on the way home. The system comes with clamps that clamp right into the canvas, elevating it away from the sides of the box and keeping everything clean and neat! Here's Karen with her Wet-Case at her easel, as Bonnie Blue enjoys a pine cone snack.
To learn more about the Wet Case Carrying System, or to order your own online, here is the link: Wet Case Carrying System.
"Snake River-Wyoming", 20x16, oil on canvas
I recall the moment I spied this beautiful wildflower garden. We had just come over a bridge where there was a castle-like structure with a swan in the water and some red -timbered buildings with thatched roofs to the left of us... Sorry, I can't recall the name of that particular village in Denmark, but if anyone knows of it, I'd love to have a name attached to my painting!
At the foot of that bridge was this incredible wildflower garden, and although I was not a painter at the time, I knew I had to try to capture the beauty of that garden with my camera! Anyway, the trip was wonderful, and I am glad that although I was using a pretty lousy camera at the time, I was able to translate my memories of the moment into a painting!
"Autumn's Last Hurrah"- 36x24, oil on wrapped canvas
"Lake of the Woods", 16x12, oil on masonite
